NHS Lothian ‘sorry’ again for backlog

A HEALTH board has apologised to patients after admitting some have “waited too long” for key diagnostic tests that can detect cancer.

NHS Lothian revealed in November that about 2,300 patients had waited longer than six weeks for an endoscopy, a vital procedure that can provide early warning of cancers of the digestive system.

It had assured the Scottish government that the figure would drop to 400 by the end of December, but on Friday a health board executive admitted it had been “unable to reduce the number of waiting patients by as many as we had hoped”.